Piano.



PATENTED JULY 3, 1906.

R. EASTWOOD.

PIANO. APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 18, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

JJEJ r Jada/ 41 R. EASTWOOD. PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED 0131.18. 1905.

PATENTED JULY, 3, 1906.

2SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD EASTWOOD, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 14 Albert road, Colne, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in or Applicable to Pianos, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in or applicable to that class of upright pianos where the check meets the front of the counter-check.

The objects of my said invention are to allow of increased rapidity of any note without vibration of the hammer and also to obtain increased facility of expression.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the action in a piano such as hereinbefore named with my invention a plied. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same. Ih these views the hammer is shown at rest. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same action, showing the relative positions of the several parts when the hammer is touching the wires. Fig. 4. is a slight modification.

In these views the same letters refer to like parts.

According to and for the pur oses of my invention I hinge or pivot to the ower end of each c0unter-check c a piece of wood or other material, which may be angular, as b, or that may be straight, so as to project below the pivot or hinge at d, the upper part intervening between the face of the counter-check c and the check 6, so as to prevent the hammer jfrom rebounding too far back after the note is struck, so that if the finger is only raised slightly from the key the hammer will remain only a short distance from the string or wire, thereby affording facility for very rapid repetitions of the same note. The short arm I) of the piece bor the lower end of said piece, if straight, is connected by a spring-wire to the shank of the counter-check or other convenient part, so that when the fin ger is removed from the key the hammer falls back to its full extent without any interference with the hopper 7c or the hopper-lever 7c, of which it is entirely independent. A tape 15 joins the hammer-butt c and the check 6.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. January 18, 1905.

Patented July 3, 1906. Serial No. 241,691.

In order to prevent vibration of the hammer after striking the wire, I fix a bar, as f, transversely to the frame a and fit a springwire, as g, to the upper portion of the butt 0, extending therefrom, so that the free end of said wire will come between and be retained between the under side of the bar 7" and the upper end of the counter-check c (that may have a pad 0 thereon) when the hammer j and other parts of the mechanism are in the positions shown in Fig. 3. The aforesaid piece I) may be hinged or pivoted to the check 6, as shown in Fig. 4, or in other preferred position, and the spring 9 may be varied in form, without departing from my said invention. By these means I am enabled to obtain the most rapid repetitions of the same note and any desired amount of expression without vibration of the hammer, such as has not hitherto been obtainable with upright pianos.

I claim as my invention 1. In upright pianos, the combination of the butt and the counter-check, and a springwire connected to and extending from the butt, a bar fixed above the counter-check in such a position that when the hammer strikes the wire which produces the sound the free end of the aforesaid spring-wire is clamped between the upper end of the counter-check and the under side of the aforesaid fixed bar.

2. In upright pianos, the combination of the counter-check, the check, a movable piece adapted to intervene between the counter check and the check, and a spring-wire connected to and extending from the butt, with a fixed bar above the counter-check in such position that when the hammer strikes the wire which produces the sound, the free end of said spring-wire is clamped between the upper end of the counter-check and the under side of said bar. 7

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD EASTWOOD.

Witnesses THOS. PREsooTT, J. ERNEST HUGHES. 

